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Monday, January 23, 2012

Did you know today is National Pie Day? Yep, sure is. And you know I rarely do desserts but I know someone who does.

On behalf of Kingsford Charcoal, World Champion Pitmaster Chris Lilly has come up with some great recipes for coal-fired sweet and savory pies. I've been fed by Chris three times, the most recent at 2011 Kingsford University, and every time I have been impressed.

I was going to make it myself this weekend but work and weather preempted that idea. So I'll be lazy, use the "reprinted with permission" and just show you his!

Photo courtesy of Kingsford Charcoal

Old-Fashioned Grilled Peach Pie
Pitmaster Note: In the South, mouths drool whenever fried pies are mentioned. Traditionally they are fried in a pan with butter until crisp and brown. To heat things up, I have taken the this traditional dessert to the backyard barbecue. By grilling the peaches prior to making the filling and then crisping the dough pocket over hot charcoal, you can make this Southern dessert a coal-fired masterpiece.
Makes: 8 pies
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
For the Dough

2 sticks butter

1/2 cup cold water

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flour for rolling out dough

For the Sugar Rub

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/16 teaspoon nutmeg

2 pounds ripe peaches (3 large or 4 medium)

1 tablespoon butter

6 tablespoons light brown sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 tablespoon oil

Instructions

Cut butter into 1/2 inch cubes and refrigerate. Measure the water and refrigerate. In a small mixing bowl add flour and salt and mix well. Add in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Slowly add water, mixing continuously, until a dough ball is formed. Seal the dough ball in GLAD® ClingWrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Sprinkle countertop or cutting board generously with flour. Remove dough from the refrigerator and place onto the floured prep area, roll out to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut the dough into 5- to 6-inch diameter circles. Removing extra dough from the prep area to re-roll and make more pie shells. Immediately peal, lift and flip the dough circles making sure they don’t stick. Yield should be 8 pie shells.

Remove the pit from the peaches and cut each peach into 8 wedges and remove skin. Generously coat the peach wedges with the sugar rub mix. Immediately place the peaches on the grill grate for 2 minutes on each side, or until they caramelize. Remove the peaches from the grill and dice them into 1/2 inch pieces. Place the peaches and butter into a medium mixing bowl. When the butter melts, add the brown sugar and flour and mix well. Stir in orange juice.

Place 2 heaping tablespoons of peach filling onto the center of each circle of dough. Lightly moisten the edges of the dough with water. Fold the dough in half creating a half moon with peach filling. Gently press the pie edges together and crimp them with a fork.

Prep the charcoal grill grate by using a grill brush and to brush on a light coat of oil. Transfer the pies to the grill and cook over direct heat, uncovered, for 3 minutes on each side or until the dough turns a crispy golden brown.

Remove from the grill and serve.

Notes

Recipe created by world champion pitmaster, Chris Lilly on behalf of Kingsford® charcoal

For more grilling ideas for "pies and otherwise", check out Grilling.com.

I am reminded of the (not-so-involved) fried pies of sorts I had as a kid in Upper Michigan. Blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries were plentiful in the summer when we were camping. The kids were sent into the woods to collect berries and the grownups made up these kinds of desserts over a campfire. Deeelicious!